Kent Nagano

Kent Nagano is considered one of today’s outstanding conductors for both operatic and orchestral repertoire. Since September 2015, he has been General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg. In addition, he is committed as Artistic Director of the Ring project “The Wagner Cycles” of Dresdner Musikfestspiele with Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln, and as patron of the Herrenchiemsee Festival. He has been Honorary Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin since 2006, Concerto Köln since 2019, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 2021 and the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester since 2023.

The 2024/25 season is Kent Nagano's last season as General Music Director in Hamburg and brings four new productions to the Staatsoper under Nagano's musical direction: Carl Orff's Trionfi, Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, Unsuk Chin's The Dark Side of the Moon, and Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier's The Illusions of William Mallory. Furthermore, he conducts symphony concerts with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester in the Elbphilharmonie as he does every season, including the New Year's performance and the world premiere of Alex Nante's symphony Anahata, a work commissioned by the Philharmonic State Orchestra.
Highlights of recent seasons in Hamburg have included opera productions such as Boris Godunov, Salome, performances of Sciarrino's Venere e Adone and Britten's Peter Grimes, Les Troyens, Lulu, Lessons in Love and Violence and the world premiere of Stilles Meer as well as Les Contes d'Hoffmann in the new production by Daniele Finzi Pasca (released on DVD by EuroArts, February 2022), the “Philharmonic Academy” in St. Michaelis, open-air concerts at the Rathausmarkt and the world premiere of Pascal Dusapin's work Waves for organ and orchestra at the Elbphilharmonie. Orchestral tours with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg have taken Kent Nagano to Japan, Spain and South America.

In the 2024/25 season, Kent Nagano conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Passau, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in Montréal and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester in Berlin, among others. He also conducts Dusapin's Il Vaggio, Dante in a production by Claus Guth at the Paris Opera and the revival of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre in a production by Krzysztof Warlikowski at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

As a much sought-after guest conductor, Kent Nagano regularly works with leading international orchestras worldwide, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique Radio France, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestre de l'Opéra national in Paris, the Chicago and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and the Wiener Symphoniker. A special project was the Bernstein opera A quiet place at the Paris Opera. Other opera productions include the world premiere of Dusapin's Il viaggio, dante at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Hindemith's Cardillac, Henze's Die Bassariden and the world premiere of Saariaho's L'amour de loin at the Salzburg Festival. Other world premieres conducted by Nagano include Bernstein's A White House Cantata and the operas Alice in Wonderland by Unsuk Chin, Three Sisters by Peter Eötvös and The Death of Klinghoffer and El Niño by John Adams.

Under the artistic direction of Kent Nagano and the Intendant of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele Jan Vogler, Wagner's Ring Tetralogy will be performed in the artistic context of the period in which it was composed, based on the latest findings of research into Wagner and performance practice, and integrated into an extensive supporting program as part of the multi-year project The Wagner Cycles of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele from 2023 to 2026. The first performance in 2023 was Das Rheingold at the Dresden Music Festival and the tour to Cologne, Ravello and Lucerne under the musical direction of Kent Nagano. Die Walküre followed in 2024 as the second work in the epochal narrative in Prague, Amsterdam, Cologne, Dresden, Hamburg and Lucerne. In 2025, the project devotes itself to Richard Wagner's Siegfried and gives historically informed concert performances in international concert halls and opera houses.

Highlights of Kent Nagano's collaboration with the OSM as Music Director from 2006 to 2020 included the inauguration of the orchestra’s new concert hall La Maison Symphonique in September 2011, performances of the complete cycles of Beethoven and Mahler symphonies, Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, concert versions of Wagner's Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde and Das Rheingold, Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au Bücher, and Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise. Tours have taken Nagano and the orchestra to Canada including the Northern Territories, Japan, South Korea, Europe (latest 2019), Latin America and the USA. In July 2018, Kent Nagano conducted Krzysztof Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion with the OSM at the Salzburg Festival opening concert.
His recordings with the OSM on Sony Classical/Analekta include Mahler’s Orchestral Songs with Christian Gerhaher in 2013 and a complete recording of all of Beethoven’s symphonies in 2015. Decca released a recording of the North American premiere of L'Aiglon, a rarely performed opera by Honegger and Ibert in 2016, conducted by Nagano in 2015. Further releases by Decca are Danse Macabre with works by Dukas, Saint-Saens, Ives and others in 2016 as well as a recording of Bernstein's A quiet place in 2018 on the occasion of the composer's 100th birthday. John Adams' Common tones in simple time & harmony (Decca) was released in 2019, the Lukas Passion by Penderecki (BIS) and works by Ginastera, Bernstein and Moussa (Analekta) in 2020.

At the Bayerische Staatsoper, where he was General Music Director from 2006 to 2013, Kent Nagano commissioned new operas such as Babylon by Jörg Widmann, Das Gehege by Wolfgang Rihm and Alice in Wonderland by Unsuk Chin. New productions included Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina, Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos and Die Frau ohne Schatten, Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites, Messiaen’s Saint François d'Assise, Berg’s Wozzeck, George Benjamin's Written on skin and Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Tours took Nagano and the Bavarian State Orchestra through Europe and Japan. In addition to Bruckner's Symphonies Nos. 4 and 7 (Sony), Kent Nagano has released several opera performances with the Bavarian State Orchestra on DVD: Unsuk Chin's opera Alice in Wonderland (2008) and Mussorgsky's Chowanschtschina (2009) with unitel classica/medici arts, Dialogue des Carmélites with Bel Air Classiques (2011) and Lohengrin (2010) with Decca.

Another very important period in Nagano’s career was his time as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin from 2000-2006. He performed Schönberg’s Moses und Aron with the orchestra (in collaboration with Los Angeles Opera) and took them to the Salzburg Festival to perform both Zemlinsky’s Der König Kandaules and Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten, as well as to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with Parsifal and Lohengrin in productions by Nikolaus Lehnhoff. Recordings with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin for Harmonia Mundi include repertoire as diverse as Bernstein’s Mass, Bruckner’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6, Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge, Wolf’s Mörike-Lieder, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Schönberg’s Die Jakobsleiter and Friede auf Erden, as well as Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 and Schönberg’s Variationen für Orchester Op. 31. In June 2006, at the end of his tenure with the orchestra, Kent Nagano was given the title Honorary Conductor by members of the orchestra – only the second recipient of this honour in their 60-year history. To this day he maintains a close friendship with the orchestra.

In October 2019, Kent Nagano and Mari Kodama expanded their joint recordings of Beethoven's works for piano and orchestra with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 0 E-flat Major WoO 4, a nearly unknown work from the composer’s youth, and his Rondo for Piano and Orchestra WoO 6 with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. The complete edition of Beethoven’s piano concerti was released on the Berlin Classics label.

Nagano was awarded Grammys for his recordings of Busoni’s Doktor Faust with Opéra National de Lyon, Prokofjew’s Peter and the Wolf with the Russian National Orchestra and Saariaho’s L’amour de Loin with the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin. He has worked with labels such as BIS, Decca, Sony Classical, FARAO Classics and Analekta for many years, and has also recorded CDs with Berlin Classics, Erato, Teldec, Pentatone, Deutsche Grammophon and Harmonia Mundi.

To celebrate Kent Nagano's 70th birthday in 2021, a 3-CD box set of works by Olivier Messiaen was released in October on the BR Klassik label. The release includes live recordings of the works Poèmes pour Mi, Chronochromie and La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ from his concerts with the Symphonieorchester und Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, demonstrating Nagano's close familiarity with Messiaen's musical language in a special way.

In September 2021, Kent Nagano published his second book with Berlin Verlag. In "10 Lessons of my Life", he recalls ten deeply personal encounters from which he learned important lessons, not only for his career but for his life more broadly. Among those experiences are encounters with the Icelandic pop artist Björk, Frank Zappa, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez and the Nobel Prize winner in physics Donald Glaser.
In 2015 Kent Nagano published "Erwarten Sie Wunder!" also in Berlin Verlag, a passionate appeal for the relevance of classical music in today's world. In 2019 the book was released in English by the Canadian McGill-Queen's University Press under the title ″Classical Music - Expect the Unexpected" and in 2015 under "Sonnez, merveilles!" in French by Éditions du Boréal.

Born in California, Nagano maintains close connections with his home state and was Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra from 1978-2009. His first major successes came with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1984, when Messiaen appointed him assistant to conductor Seiji Ozawa for the premiere of his opera Saint François d'Assise. Nagano’s success in America led to European appointments: Music Director of Opéra National de Lyon (1988-1998) and Music Director of the Hallé Orchestra (1991-2000). Kent Nagano became the first Music Director of Los Angeles Opera in 2003 having already held the position of Principal Conductor for two years.

Kent Nagano was awarded an honorary doctorate from McGill University in Montréal in 2005, an honorary doctorate from the Université de Montréal in 2006, and an honorary doctorate from San Francisco State University in 2018. Since 2017, Kent Nagano has been a "Compagnon" of the "Ordre des arts et des lettres" of Québec and in the fall of 2023, Kent Nagano was also awarded the title of "Chevalier" in the "Ordre des art et des lettres" of France. In February 2024, Kent Nagano was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the Federal President and in June 2024 he was awarded the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honor. Kent Nagano is the recipient of the 2024 Brahms Prize of the Brahms Society of Schleswig-Holstein.

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Sandra Hamaoui

Birthplace:
New York City, NY, US

Studies:
Bachelor of Music degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 2015,
Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division

Prizes:
National Semi-Finalist in The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions,
First place winner in the New England Regional Finals,
Top Prize, Audience Favorite, Irene Patti Memorial Award from Florida Grand Opera's Young Patronesses of The Opera Competition,
Scholarships from Fondation des Treilles, The Opera Foundation, The Schuyler Foundation, and the Henry & Maria Holt Memorial Fund

Important parts:
Lisa (La Sonnambula), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ninette (L'amour des trois oranges), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Gilda (Rigoletto), Constance (Les Dialogues des Carmèlites), Sophie (Werther), Juliette (Romeo and Juliette), et al.

Stages:
Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opernhaus Zürich, et al.

Cooperations with directors:
Rolando Villazon, et al.

Cooperations with conductors:
Riccardo Frizza, et al.

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Jake Arditti

Birthplace:
London, UK

Studies:
BMus - Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Mperf and Opera Diploma - Royal College of Music

Prizes:
Finalist and special prize winner at the Cesti Competition

Important parts:
Title role (Rinaldo, Handel), Title role (Serse, Handel), Nerone (L’incoronazione di Poppea, Monteverdi), David (Saul, Handel), Adone (Venere e Adone, Salvatore Sciarrino), Erissena (Alessandro nell’India, Vinci), Nerone (Agrippina, Handel), Sesto (Giulio Cesare, Handel) Prince Go-Go (Le Grand Macabre, Ligeti).

Stages:
Theater an der Wien, Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires), Staatsoper Stuttgart, Opernhaus Zurich, Festival d’Aix en Provence, Opéra National du Rhin (Strasbourg), Opéra national de Lorraine, Opéra de Rouen, Opéra de Lille, Opera Vlaanderen, Teatro Real (Madrid), Liceu Opera (Barcelona), Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival, Internationale, Händel Festspiele Göttingen, Pinchgut Opera (Sydney)

Cooperations with directors:
Robert Carsen, Claus Guth, Mariame Clement, Calixto Bieto, Peter Konwitschny, Keith Warner, Jetske Mijnssen, Clarac & Deloeuil, Ted Huffman, Wayne McGregor.

Cooperations with conductors:
Kirill Karabits, Thomas Hengelbrock, Ivor Bolton, Christophe Rousset, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Ottavio Dantone, Laurence Cummings, Stefano Montanari, Christopher Moulds, Rubén Dubrovsky.

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Cody Quattlebaum

Birthplace:
Maryland, USA

Studies:
The Juilliard School, the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Opernhaus Zürich International Opera Studio, Dutch National Opera studio

Prizes:
Sara Tucker grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation

Important parts:
Masetto (Don Giovanni), Schaunard (La Boheme), Bhishma (Until The Lions), Ratefreund (Die Vögel), Il Conte (Le Nozze di Figaro), Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Don Fernando (Fidelio), Larkens (La Fanciulla del West)

Stages:
Teatro Real, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra National du Rhin, Israeli Opera Tel-Aviv, Dutch National Opera, Opernhaus Zürich

Cooperations with conductors:
Raphaël Pichon, Klaus Mäkelä, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Andris Nelsons, Ivor Bolton, Richard Egarr, Marc Minkowski, Laurence Cummings

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Hamburger Knabenchor

For more than fifty years, boys have discovered their love of music at Hamburg's Boys Choir. They grow up and mature with masterworks from music history that are simply part of their everyday lives, and they take many unique experiences and skills into their adult lives.

Established in 1960 as the Boys Choir of Northern Germany Radio, currently about one hundred boys and young men aged from 5 to 25 sing in Hamburg's Boys Choir. At various choral levels, they are comprehensively prepared for the choir’s demanding repertoire and active concert schedule.

The choir’s repertoire comprises both an extensive range of a capella works as well as large oratorios. Bach’s passions and Christmas Oratorio are performed annually. Other works of their core repertoire include Haydn's Creation (performed in 2019 in Tokyo), Mozart's "Mass in C-minor" and "Requiem", Schubert's Mass in E flat-major, Mendelsohns' "Elias" and "Paulus", Faure's "Requiem", Britten's "War Requiem", as well Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms" and "Mass".

The choir can be regularly heard performing motets in the services of Hamburg’s main protestant Church St. Nikolai, with which it is associated. These numerous performances ensure a regular fine-tuning of the choir, something that also characterizes boarding school choirs. The Hamburg Boys Choir is a regular guest of professional ensembles as well as concert halls and opera houses. Soloists from the choir have taken on the parts of the three boys in Mozart's "Magic Flute" at opera houses from Kiel and Lübeck to Lisbon. In October 2021, they sang Alban Berg's "Wozzeck" at Elbphilharmonie, conducted by Zubin Metha. The choir sang in 2022, for example with Kent Nagano and Thomas Hengelbrock.

Concert tours both in Germany and abroad are also part of the Hamburg Boys Choir's established traditions. The choir has toured in Asia several times, as well as in Argentina and several European countries. In 2022, the Choir performed in São Paulo and Vienna.


LUIZ DE GODOY
Künstlerische Leitung

Im Alter von fünf Jahren entdeckte Luiz de Godoy seine Liebe zur Musik. Seine Ausbildung in Klaviersolo, Chor- und Orchesterdirigieren absolvierte er über mehrere Stationen in Brasilien, den USA, Frankreich, Deutschland und Österreich. Von seiner Wiener Almer Mater, der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, erhielt er 2019 den Würdigungspreis. Er wirkte zugleich als Chorleiter renommierter Ensembles wie der Wiener Singakademie und der Chorakademie der Wiener Staatsoper und arbeitete mit vielen Größen wie Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev, Ton Koopman, Sir Simon Rattle, Franz Welser-Möst und Simone Young, sowie u.a. den Berliner und Wiener Philharmonikern. Als Orchesterdirigent debütierte er 2015 in Brasilien und dirigierte in der Folge in mehreren Ländern Europas, Asiens und Südamerikas, u. a. das ORF-Radiosymphonieorchester Wien und in Produktionen der Hamburgischen Staatsoper das Philharmonische Staatsorchester Hamburg. 

2016 wurde Luiz de Godoy zum Kapellmeister der Wiener Sängerknaben berufen, mit denen er Tourneen in über 20 Ländern unternahm. Zeitgleich wurde er mit dem Erwin-Ortner-Preis zur Förderung der Chormusik ausgezeichnet. Zur Spielzeit 2019/20 holte ihn die Hamburgische Staatsoper in die Hansestadt und betraute ihn mit der Leitung ihres Kinder- und Jugendchores. Seit Januar 2021 ist Luiz de Godoy in Personalunion künstlerischer Leiter des Hamburger Knabenchores.

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Alsterspatzen – Kinder- und Jugendchor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper

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Luiz de Godoy

Birthplace:
Mogi das Cruzes, Brasil

Studies:
Piano at Universidade de São Paulo (Bachelor) and at Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas (Master), Erasmus stay with focus on piano and conducting at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Diploma course conducting at Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien (with honors)

Prizes:
Würdigungspreis der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (2019), Scholarship from UNESCO, the European Union and the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, Erwin-Ortner-Preis zur Förderung der Chormusik (2016)

Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Leader Alsterspatzen since 2019/20

Repertoire:
Focus on choral symphonic repertoire (spiritual and secular oratorios; in particular Wiener Klassik and Deutsche Romantik), special relationship to performance practices of old and new music

Career stages:
conductor of the Wiener Sängerknaben (2016–2019), choir director of Chorakademie des Wiener Staatsopernchores (2016–2018), assistent of the artistic director of the Wiener Singakademie at the Wiener Konzerthaus (2015–2019), musical director of Opera Studio at Sommerfestival „ Música nas Montanhas“ in Poços de Caldas, Brasilien (2010–2012), corepeater of opera projekts at Theatro Municipal de São Paulo (2005–2009)

Stages:
Esplanade Singapur, Peking National Opera, Seoul Lotte Hall, Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Taiwan National Theater, Teatro Real Madrid, Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, Tokyo Opera City Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Wiener Musikverein; Carinthischer Sommer, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Grafenegg Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival

Cooperations with orchestras (as conductor):
Camerata Schulz, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orquestra de la Armada de Chile, Orquestra Juvenil da Bahia, Polish Baltic Filharmonic, Schubert-Akademie Wien, Youth-Orchestra Singapur et al.

cooperations (choral rehearsal / assistance):
Berliner Philharmoniker, Les Sciècles, Mariinsky-Theaterorchester Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker et al.

Cooperations with artists:
Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev, Ton Koopman, Sir Simon Rattle, Simone Young, Franz Welser-Möst

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Chor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper

The chorus members appear on stage at the Hamburg State Opera in a different role almost every night. From one day to the next, they might be sailors, pilgrims or conspirators, then courtiers, hunters, the deranged or the imprisoned. In the role of crusaders in I Lombardi alla prima Crociata they travel to Jerusalem, other nights they are invited to Madama Butterfly's marriage or acclaim Prince Igor. The ladies and gentlemen of the opera chorus demonstrate their artistic prowess, their flexibility, and their love of the stage in every performance.

With a membership around 70, the chorus of the Hamburg State Opera has been one of the world’s best opera choruses for many years. The varied repertoire – almost always in the original language – is multifaceted and includes baroque operas and dramatic operas, major works by Verdi and Wagner as well as contemporary pieces. At the start of the 2013/14 season, Eberhard Friedrich took over the post of Chorus Master.

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Eberhard Friedrich

Birthplace:
Darmstadt, Germany

Studies:
Studies with Helmuth Rilling in Frankfurt am Main

Prizes:
Under his direction, the Bayreuther Festspielchor was awarded the International Opera Award for Best Choir of the Year in 2014. Under his direction, the choir of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden was named Choir of the Year in 2004 and received the European Cultural Award (2009). Eberhard Friedrich also received a Grammy for his recording of "Tannhäuser" at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden with Daniel Barenboim (2003)

Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Choir director of the Hamburg State Opera since 2013/14

Career stages:
Choir director of the Festspielchor / Bayreuther Festspiele (since 2000), choir director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (1998 to 2013), assistant at the Bayreuther Festspiele (since 1993), choir director at the Theater der Stadt Koblenz (1986 to 1991) as well as at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden (1991 to 1998)

Cooperation with choirs:
MDR-Rundfunkchor, Amsterdam Opera Choir, Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, Philharmonischer Chor Prag, Chor des Niederländischen Rundfunks, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Rias Kammerchor, Bayerischer Rundfunkchor, Chöre des Westminster Choir College, et al.

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Rupert Burleigh

Birthplace:
London, England

Studies:
Piano, Conducting und Musicology with Prof. Hamish Milne at Royal Academy of Music London (1984-1989); solo class Prof. David Wilde at University of Music and Drama Hanover (1989-1994)

Relation to the Hamburg State Opera
Director of Studies since 2010/11

Career stages:
Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden (1998-2000), Director of Studies and Director opera studio at Oper Köln (2000-2010), guest at Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2017), lecturer at Hochschule für Musik Hamburg (since 2013)

Cooperation with orchestras:
Arion Orchestra London, Gürzenich Orchester Köln

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Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

The Philharmonic State Orchestra is Hamburg’s largest and oldest orchestra, looking back on many years of musical history. When the “Philharmonic Orchestra” and the “Orchestra of the Hamburg Municipal Theatre” merged in 1934, two tradition-steeped orchestras combined. Philharmonic concerts have been performed in Hamburg since 1828, artists such as Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms being regular guests of the Philharmonic Society. The history of the opera company goes back even further: Hamburg has been home to musical theatre since 1678, even if a regular opera or theatre orchestra was only formed later. To this day, the Philharmonic State Orchestra has embodied the sound of the Hansa City, a concert and opera orchestra in one.

During its long history, the orchestra encountered great artist personalities. Apart from composers of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, such as Telemann, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mahler, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, since the 20th century chief conductors such as Karl Muck, Joseph Keilberth, Eugen Jochum, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Aldo Ceccato, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gerd Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher and Simone Young have shaped the orchestra’s sound. Renowned conductors of the pre-war era such as Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Karl Böhm and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt gave brilliant performances, as did outstanding conductors of our times: suffice it to mention Christian Thielemann, Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Petrenko, Adam Fischer and Sir Roger Norrington.

Starting with the 2015/2016 season, Kent Nagano has taken on the position of Hamburg’s General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the Hamburg State Opera and since June 2023 also its honorary conductor. In his first season Kent Nagano initiated a new project, the Philharmonic Academy, focusing on experimentation and chamber music. In 2016, Nagano and the Philharmonic toured South America, followed by concert tours to Spain and Japan in 2019, and in the spring of 2023, the Philharmonic State Orchestra made its debut at New York's Carnegie Hall under his direction, which was acclaimed by audiences and the press. Since 2017 Kent Nagano and the Philharmonic State Orchestra have continued the traditional Philharmonic Concerts at the new Elbphilharmonie, for which they commissioned Jörg Widmann to compose the oratorio ARCHE, which was given its world premiere during the hall’s opening festivities. The concert recording has been released by ECM, for which Widmann received the OPUS KLASSIK as Composer of the Year 2019, and ARCHE was performed again in 2023 to great acclaim.

The Philharmonic State Orchestra offers approximately 35 concerts per season and performs more than 240 performances per year at the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier, making it Hamburg’s busiest orchestra. The stylistic bandwidth covered by the 140 musicians, ranging from historically informed performance practice to contemporary works and including concert, opera and ballet repertoire, is unique throughout Germany. Chamber Music has a long tradition at the Philharmonic State Orchestra: what began in 1929 with a concert series for chamber orchestra has been continued since 1968 by a series of chamber music only.

In 2008 Simone Young and the Philharmonic State Orchestra won the Brahms Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society. The orchestra has recorded the complete Ring by Wagner as well as the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner – the latter in the rarely-performed original versions – as well as works by Mahler, Hindemith and Berg, and has released DVDs of opera and ballet productions by Hosokawa, Offenbach, Reimann, Auerbach, J.S. Bach, Puccini, Poulenc and Weber.

The members of the Philharmonic State Orchestra feel equally beholden to Hamburg’s musical tradition and responsible for the city’s artistic future. Since 1978 the musicians have been participating in education programmes in Hamburg’s schools. Today, the orchestra maintains a broad education programme, including school and kindergarten visits, patronage for music projects, introductory events for children and family concerts. The orchestra’s own academy prepares young musicians for their professional careers. The Philharmonic’s musicians thereby make an equally enjoyable and valuable contribution to tomorrow’s music education in the music metropolis of Hamburg.

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